50 Years of Ultima
The history of the St Louis , Missouri area ' s involvement in the custom motorcycle industry , and in the parts and accessory market specifically , is a rich one . One that has punched above the weight of the Greater St Louis area market ' s hinterland by reaching out across the continental United States and internationally . A sister company to Midwest Motorcycle Supply , Ultima Motorcycle Products can trace its origin story back to a business called E & M Motorcycle - a fabrication shop and retail store - in St Louis with Charlie Eckenrodt making parts and wrenching on local bikes . E & M eventually became the foundation for the business that evolved into the Ultima Motorcycle Products operation we know today . Eckenrodt opened an engine factory a few blocks down the road from his retail store , and this was where Ultima engines started to be machined and assembled . By 1996 , Ultima had become renowned in the world of custom bike building and world class bike builders and celebrity
Charlie Eckenrodt - Ultima grew from Charlie ' s E & M Motorcycle , St Louis fabrication shop .
" Boyd Dingman ’ s custom bike build ' Blackbird ' shows us ' how fast is done ' with his stealth design work and emphasis on high performance . The dual high-performance Ultima carburetors feeding the 140 ci Ultima Competition Series engine was truly impressive . The fit and finish on this bike is of the highest caliber . 100 % Beauty and Beast ."
bike builders were using its engines in award-winning show bikes . The brand had also started to evolve to include Ultima frames , wheels , transmissions and more . By the late 1990s its , at that stage , Arnold , Missouri facility was bursting at the seams , and in the 2000s the move to a newbuild 100,000 sq ft facility at Pevely , Missouri , saw Ultima able to establish a dyno research facility , multiple CNC machining shops , an engine assembly plant and an engine repair shop . This is where Ultima was able to develop the latest additions to the Ultima family of engines : the Competition Series Twin Cam replacement engines . We here at AMD had started to see Ultima engines appearing in AMD European and World Championship of Custom Bike Building competitions and the program ' s affiliated custom bike shows in Europe in the early 2000s , and its El Bruto V- twins were an established ' go-to ' for builders seeking that rare trifecta of power , reliability and accessible pricing . The brand ' s reputation among the ' Builder Community ' wasn ' t
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